Aerial-picture apparatus



April 27,1926. 1,582,262

H. M. GOODHUE. SR

AERIAL PI CTURE APPARATUS Filed Feb. 15 1923 3 SheetsSheet l m fr 5 OQODOOVOOOOOUOOOOOOOU H. M. GOODHUE, SR

AERIAL PICTURE APPARATUS April 27, 1926.

Filed Feb. 15, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 vbven/izor:

April 27 1926.

H. M. GOODHUE, SR

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PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY M. GOODHUE, 53., OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

AERIAL-PICTURE APPARATUS.

Application filed February 15, 1923. Serial No. 619,221.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, HARRY M. GOODHUE, Sr.,' a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Aerial-Picture Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invent-ion relates to an apparatus fo producing aerial pictures of great variety.

The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the character set forth which can be easily built in or transported to buildings in parks, museums, stores or theatres. l

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the character descrlbed which can be embodied in a comparatively small space, so that it can be used in a large number of places without great ex nseu Another object of the invention is to rovide an apparatus of the character describedv in which figures of persons, animals or articles either at rest or in motion, can be seen through an opening in'a cabinet, either in combination with fountains or without.

By the apparatus of this invention an enormous variety of scenes can be depicted, such, for example, as a water scene with the sun rising and a girl coming up. out of the water; girls swimming in the air, a girl diving into water and returning as a floating butterfly with working golden wings, floating around the very edge of the opening in the cabinet, then reversing and another girl then appearing, one of the girls floating in one direction and the other girl floating in the opposite direction. A new moon may be made to appear in the center of the opening with a girl reclining thereon with her eyes closed and as the music plays, the girl opens her eyes, straightens out her body and moves up into the air,returns to her original position and fades away.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the character set forth in which there is no danger of fire, 'due to.

slides or films and such inflammable apparatus.

The invention consists in an apparatus such as hereinafter described and particu- I larly 1n the combination and arrangement of 1 parts set forth in the claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a, vertical sectional elevation of the apparatus of my invention. d F1g. 21s a plan view of an illuminating 180.

7 Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the appaz-atus partly broken away and shown in secion.

' Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation broken away of a modified form of my invention.

Fig. 5 is a sectional plan taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

In the drawin s, Figures 1 to 3 inclusive illustrate one eni odiment of my invention wherein 5 is a cabinet in which is embodied an apparatus constituting my invention. The cabinet consists of a front wall 6 with an opening 7 therein, a back wall 8, a top 9 and the same rests upon a floor 10. A door 11 is provided at the rear of the cabinet through which persons may enter. A transparent member 12, preferably glass, is located within the apparatus in alignment with the opening! and is inclined at an angle thereto from the front of the app-aratus toward the rear, preferably at an angle of An auxiliary platform 13 is pro vided adjacent the bottom and at the rear of the transparent member 12 and to this auxiliary platform is fastened a trough 14 above which fountains 15, preferably three in number, with a large number of smallindividual streams are located. A lam 16, preferably electric, is placed above eac of the fountains and below each of the lamps is positioned a horizontal rotary disc 17 provided at intervals with gelatine discs 18 of different colors. The discs 17 are rotatably mounted upon brackets 19 fast to thetopof the apparatus and rotated by means of pulleys 20. Y

A rotary disc. 21, which has rollers 22 thereon, is. adapted to. roll on 'the. floor 10 and this disc 21'is surrounded by-a ring 23 also mounted upon rollers 24 which roll npenthe disefiltor the .ring23.v

upon the floor 10. The discs are rotatably mounted upon a stationary pivot 25.

A series of lights 26 are placed around the two sides 26' and 26 and across the front of the cabinet which illuminate any persons, animals or articles which may be positioned The front of the apparatus hereiiibefore described is highly decorated and curtains are provided in the space '7 which are opened and remain open while the aerial pictures are beingdisplayed. Before the lights are turned on in the cabinet, the audience sees through the opening only absolute darkness.

The cabinet and the apparatus hereinbefore described may be made collapsible so that the wall and top of the cabinet and the different devices and members enclosed within said cabinet may be packed in a small space and very conveniently shipped from one point to another. Ifdesired, the rotating disc 21 and ring 23 may be fixed in a stationary position, or may bedispensed with and the floor 10 used to place the different persons, animals or articles upon.

In the apparatus hereinbefore described the disc 21 and ring 23 may be considered as a stage, upon which the actors perform,

or in the absenre of the disc 21 and the ring 23 the floor 10 may be considered a stage.

It will be understood that the inner faces of the walls and top of the cabinet and the floor are made dead black, either by painting them or by covering them with a black cloth. The discs are covered with black felt.

The general operation of the device is as follows a-Assuming a person to be reclining upon the disc 21 and theinterior of the cabinet is erfectly dark, the lights 26 may be gradual y brought to play by the use of a dimmer so as to illuminate the person or article on the disc 21 and the rays of light will be reflected from said person or article upwardly against the inclined transparent member 12 and will be reflected from the transparent member in such a manner asto cause the persons, animals or articles on the disc to appear before the eyes of the ob.- servers as though they were positioned at the back of the cabinet producing an aerial picture of the same. The person lying on the disc 21 may 0 through the different dancing motions desired while lying on her back. She can move her feet and arms so as to produce graceful dancing by the figure as it appears at the back of the cabinet. If desired, also, another figure may be placed upon the'ring 23 and either or both of these figures may be rotated in the same or opposite directions so as to produce va great variety of moving effects relatively to the figures of the persons as they appear at the back of the cabinet. Still further Variety may be obtained by means of the fountains 15 with the lights 16 playing down upon figures standing on the platform 13 and going through different dances or movements or they may be stationary to produce iiving' pictzn'es of statuary. 7

If desired, pictures of different scenes, rivers oi-landscapes may be placed beneath the transparent member 12 on the disc 21 and ring 23 and illuminated by the lights 26,

so that these different pictures will appear at the back of the cabinet.

Pictures of clouds may be laid upon the disc. 21 and a girl may be lying on the clouds, or lyin on a crescent moon, and then she may roll 0 of the moon on to the clouds and back again, which may be accomplished by means of the girl rolling on the stage or platform or disc 21 to disappear entirely from view and then rolling back again into View. a

In Figs. '4 and. 5a modified form of my invention is illustrated which is in all respects substantially the same as that embodiment of my invention illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, exce t that an auxiliary stage is rovided behind the back of the cabinet.

eferring now to Figs. 4 and 5, the different arts indicated by the same numerals as in *igs. 1 and 3 are the same and operate in the same manner as hereinbefore described in relation to Figs. 1 and 3.

An auxiliary cabinet 27 is positioned outside of and at the rear of the cabinet 5 and consists of a top 28, back 29, floor 30 and side walls 31. The inner surfaces of this cabinet are also black and the said auxiliary cabinet communicates with the cabinet 5 by means of an open front 32 which may be closed by means of a curtain 33.

A 'serles of lights 34 extend across the top 28 and downwardly along the side walls 31. The floor of the auxiliary cabinet 30 is hinged at 35 so that it may be thrown over into the position shown in dotted lines, and its free end will then rest upon a support 36.

By means of this auxiliary cabinet figures may be illuminated within the auxiliary cabinet and the curtains33 drawn one side to show figures, articles or animals in the auxiliary cabinet and by manipulating the curtain 33, these figures may be displayed or hidden from the audience. Simultaneously the fountains 15 may be operated so that the figures in the auxiliary cabinet will be seen through the fountains. In the rear of the auxiliary cabinet av pair of pulleys 37 the back of the auxiliary cabinet 27. ,A large variety of different effects may be produced with this apparatus by placing figures in the auxiliary cabinet and causing the canvas 41 to be propelled across the cabinet, whereupon by reason of optical illusion, the panorama on the canvas will appear to be stationary, while the figure will appear to move along the panorama. This may be further accomplished in a different manner by placing upon the rotary disc 21 figures of )eople, animals or articles, for example,

mo els of a sleigh and reindeer may be placed upon the disc 21 and a rocking motion imparted to said disc. At the same time the canvas 41 will be moved across the back ofthe auxiliary cabinet and the reindeer and sleigh on the disc 21 will be illuminated by the lights 26. The lights 34 in the auxiliar cabinet will at this time be extin ui'she Then by reflection of thegys of lig t from the lamps 26, the reindee "nd sleigh will be projected upon the transparent member 12 and reflected to the eye of the observer and to the observer reindeer and sleigh will appear to be superimposed upon the canvas 41. As the canvas is moved and a rocking motion is given to the sleigh, and reindeer by rocking the disc 21, the picture produced will have all the appearance of a sleigh with reindeer rapidly travelling through the country. 7

It is unnecessary to describe in detail all the different effects that may be obtained by means of this apparatus, but what I claim and desire by Letters Patent to secure is 1. An apparatus of the character described having, in combination, a cabinet provided with an opening in its front, the inner surfaces of the cabinet being dark, a transparent member in said cabinet in alignment with said opening and inclined at an angle thereto, an auxiliary cabinet located behind said cabinet and opening thereinto, means to illuminate said auxiliarycabinet, a vertical member of sheet material at the back of said auxiliary cabinet and means to impart motion to said vertical member longitudinally thereof and across said auxiliary cabinet.

2. Anapparatus of the character described having, in combination, a cabinet provided with an opening in its front, the inner surfaces of the cabinet being dark, a transparent member in said cabinet in alignment with said opening and inclined at an angle thereto, an auxiliary cabinet located behind said cabinet and opening thereinto, means to illuminate said auxiliary cabinet, a vertical member of sheet material at the back of said auxiliary cabinet and means to impart motion to said vertical member longitudinally thereof and across said auxiliary, cabinet, a platform constituting a stage located within said cabinet in alignment with said transparent member and out inner surfaces of the cabinct being dark, a

transparent member in said cabinet in alignment with said opening and inclined at an angle thereto, an auxiliary cabinet located behind said cabinet and opening thereinto, said auxiliary cabinet being dark, means to illuminatesaid auxiliary cabinet, a vertical member of sheet material at the back of said auxiliary cabinet and means to impart motion to said vertical member longitudinally thereof and across said auxiliary cabinet, a rotary disc in said cabinet and out of alignment with saidcabinet opening and means for illuminating persons, animals and articles on said rotary disc whereby said persons, animals and articles may be seen through said openings superimposed upon said member of sheet material and caused to appear in motion at the back of the auxiliary cabinet. 1

4. An apparatus of the character described having, in combination, a cabinet provided with an opening in its front, the inner surfaces of the cabinet being dark, a transparent member in said cabinet in alignment with said opening and inclined from the front downwardly toward the back of said cabinet, an auxiliary cabinet located behind said cabinet, and openin thereinto, said auxiliary cabinet being dark, means to illuminate said auxiliary cabinet, a vertical member of sheet material at the back of said auxiliary cabinet and means to impart motion to said vertical member longitudinally thereof and across said auxiliary cabinet.

5. An apparatus of the character described having, in combination, a cabinet provided with an opening in its front, the inner surfaces of the cabinet being dark, a transparent member in said cabinet in align ment with said opening and inclined from may be seen superimposed upon said mem ber of sheet material at the back of the auxiliary cabinet.

6. An apparatus of the character described having, in combination, a cabinet provided with an opening in its front, the inner surfaces of the cabinet being dark, a transparent member in said cabinet in alignmentwith said opening and inclined from the front downwardly toward the back of said cabinet, an auxiliary cabinet located behind said cabinet, and opening thereinto, said auxiliary cabinet being dark, means to illuminate said auxiliary cabinet, a vertical member of sheet material at the back of said auxiliary cabinet and means to impart moand articles may be seen through said openings superimposed upon said member of sheet material and caused to appear in motion at the back of the auxiliary cabinet.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

HARRY M. GOODHUE, SR. 

